A man who fell off a cliff and had to be rescued happened to end up back in the very same place, this time as the rescuer.

James Farkas, who fell down an embankment on Nanaimosa国际传媒檚 Bayshore Drive late last summer, was back there last week and helped an eagle facing near-certain death get a shot at soaring local skies again.

Farkas was visiting friends the evening of May 12 when one of his friends noticed some unusual activity on the beach the house overlooks.

sa国际传媒淪o I went down to the beach and I seen all these turkey vultures just hammering on this eagle, like, seven or eight of them. Just beating on him,sa国际传媒� Farkas said. sa国际传媒淪o I go down to the beach and chase the turkey vultures away and he had a broken wing, so I corralled him, took my shirt off, put it over him, picked him up and brought him home.sa国际传媒�

The eagle had been forced into a tide pool and had little strength left, but Farkas was surprised at how calm the bird was once he had his shirt around him and the bird even let him stroke its head.

Because of the time of night, there were no wildlife services he could contact, so he called the Nanaimo RCMP dispatch, which contacted WildAID, a volunteer organization operated by Lorinne Anderson and her husband Norm Snihur, a helicopter pilot who uses his aircraft to quickly move wild animals to wildlife treatment and rehabilitation centres.

Anderson arrived within half an hour of Farkassa国际传媒檚 call to the RCMP dispatcher.

sa国际传媒淭hat was awesome of the dispatcher,sa国际传媒� he said. sa国际传媒淭hey get a lot of credit for knowing [who to call].sa国际传媒�

In a strange coincidence, the site where Farkas spotted the eagle was .

sa国际传媒淚 got rescued and then I sort of had to pay it forward and rescue the bird,sa国际传媒� he said.

Anderson brought the bird to her home and contacted Rob Hope, raptor care manager at OWL (Orphaned Wildlife) in Vancouver, who advised her to feed the starving bird quail, which she keeps in stock at her home in Nanaimo for rescued raptors. Snihur flew the eagle to OWL the following morning where it is recovering.

Anderson said it was one of the easier raptor rescues.

sa国际传媒淛im had done all the hard work,sa国际传媒� Anderson said. sa国际传媒淥ur part in this was actually quite small. Sometimes wesa国际传媒檙e the one climbing down and fetching it up. This one was real easy. He had it in his living room.sa国际传媒�

The eagle is recovering, but its fate is yet to be known. The bird has a broken right shoulder that is healing, Hope said, and has a better than 50 per cent chance of being returned to Nanaimo and released.

sa国际传媒淗esa国际传媒檚 a sub-adult bird. Upon admission, he was basically starving,sa国际传媒� Hope said.

It will be a few more weeks before it will be known if the bones heal well enough to support flight. Nothing medically, otherwise, can be done, but the bird is eating and gaining weight and strength.

Hope said OWL staff unwrap the wing each week to stretch it, check the healing and re-wrap it.

sa国际传媒淚t will be four to five weeks before it heals good enough that we can move him into a flight cage,sa国际传媒� Hope said.

The eaglesa国际传媒檚 natural disposition toward humans and his natural aggressive instincts have also returned along with his weight and strength and Hope reports he is a sa国际传媒渃ompletely different birdsa国际传媒� from when he arrived.

sa国际传媒淥h, he hates us. He hates us, but thatsa国际传媒檚 what we want,sa国际传媒� Hope said. sa国际传媒淲hen we catch him to change his wraps and stuff, hesa国际传媒檚 biting and fighting and carrying on, but thatsa国际传媒檚 the way we like it. We want these guys to show the will to survive and, of course, [seeing] us as not as their friends, but as their foe is actually what we want from them so thatsa国际传媒檚 good.sa国际传媒�

Anderson said, except in rare cases such as Farkassa国际传媒檚 eagle rescue, itsa国际传媒檚 always better for people to call organizations such as WildAID before intervening when a wild animal is found in trouble.

WildAID helps raptors and other birds sa国际传媒� they recently helped a great horned owl and a merganser chick sa国际传媒� as well as other wild animals and unwanted wildlife such as raccoons and can be reached 24 hours a day, seven days a week at 250-616-8888.

Farkas hopes to be present when the bird is released.

sa国际传媒淸Anderson] asked me to text her the address where I caught him at so they could bring him to there for the release and I said, yeah, I want to be there when you let him go,sa国际传媒� Farkas said.

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